Tag Archives: money

So I’ve done some bits of paid work of late, but the earliest an invoice will be paid is likely to be Friday this week. I also have some lovely micropatron payments due over next weekend, thanks, beautiful people. Nonetheless, that leaves me with a sticky cash situation today. My oyster card is empty and while I’m confident of being able to pay for one more meal today, two is a going to be more than a stretch.

I am committed to not borrowing any money, even for the short-term of the next five days. That has only ever made things worse for me.

I am open to work for cash or immediate upfront payment – the things I do are summarized in the title of this post and explored further here but I’ll take other suggestions within the bounds of legality and decency (though my definition of decency is fairly broad and loose!) and you may have ideas of other things I could do right now that you’d swap cash for immediately.

I am open to gifts, sponsorship and micropatronage (especially if paid direct to my bank (details here), rather than through the sluggish means of paypal).

I’m also open to invitations to breakfast, lunch & supper, subject to me being able to get to you and not kill anyone on the way to breakfast because of low blood sugar…

And then there’s the possibility of making social art together that might encourage immediate cashflow to all involved, whatever that means.

I’m particularly focused on things I can do today and this week, but all other offers are welcome – beyond my commitment to my residency at #C4CC, I have few other calls on my time.

A note for those of you who worry. Thank you, I appreciate your care. I am loving this experience of living completely today and very grateful for the opportunity to do it. If I’d had a massive windfall at any point in the last few months, I’d have missed out on this part of an extraordinary adventure.

I just broke my last tenner buying stuff for breakfast tomorrow. Hmmm… it wasn’t supposed to still be like this but the truth is that it isn’t a sob story, it’s just the way things are for today and things can change very quickly. [UPDATE: micropatrons & postcard buyers have saved the bacon for now… thankyou! proper update later]

I was reminded of this today when I found myself telling the #tuttle2texas story again, to a bunch of people who knew very little about me or the social web. I talked, as usual, about how I learned to keep asking for help and keep trusting that the right help would turn up. They were primarily gobsmacked that I took the accomplishment of traveling the breadth of the USA, fuelled by social capital so lightly, that I didn’t talk about how proud I am of what we did or speak with more enthusiasm about how amazing it was.

It *was* amazing. Lots of you helped make it that way. I could not have done it without you. But here’s something: I don’t think I’ve acknowledged for myself yet that you might never have done it without me.

Same goes for Tuttle as a whole. It isn’t about me, it never has been, I couldn’t do it on my own. But the people who are interested in the social web in London (and Birmingham, Cornwall, Long Beach etc) probably wouldn’t have otherwise done something quite the same.

That’s one of the insights I’ve been given as a result of asking for Linked-in recommendations. There’s stuff hanging about in this world that wouldn’t be here if I had been around. Good stuff, that people like and value. Not necessarily big stuff, but stuff that’s important to those people whose lives it has touched.

To those who’ve been trying to tell me this for years, I’m sorry, I’m a bit slow to catch up.

And then there’s the invisible stuff. A common thread in some of the recommendations I’ve had this week is the idea that you might not see what it is that I do.

David Jennings says “His craft works so well… that it’s almost invisible – ditto his leadership…”

Johnnie Moore puts it like this: “… one of his finest qualities is his humility and reluctance to show off and put other people in the shadow.” and “He will help make connections and realise the potential of networks and he’ll do it so skilfully that you might not notice him doing it.”

Jo Jacobs uses the ‘c’ word: “His work… has been the catalyst for so many other collaborative ventures and meetings”.

Nathalie McDermott says: “Lloyd… provides the perfect conditions for others to meet, spark off each other and make things happen which is a rare talent.”.

But if you can’t see it (unless you get to know me and look up close), how do you know whether it’s really there? How do you distinguish this from the Emperor’s New Clothes? And if you didn’t pay for it and it went away, how would you know? Would you really miss it? What difference would it really make?

No other earth-shattering insights for now. If you can see something obvious that I can’t, please do point it out.

If you’re reading this you’ve probably dipped in your pockets or helped in some other way already. Thank you. If you’re inclined to do one more thing perhaps you could encourage others to do the same as you did for me.

If you’re just catching up you can find other posts about it here and here.

I'm the founder of the Tuttle Club and fascinated by organisation. I enjoy making social art and building communities, if you'd like some help from me feel free to e-mail me: Lloyd dot Davis at Gmail dot Com or call +44 (0)79191 82825